Missing cop mystery deepens

Eastern Free State police have promised to leave no stone unturned in their search for Constable Pule Rasebokoa, a police officer who went missing two months ago.

The 36-year-old father of three from Hanchabeng Village, QwaQwa was last seen on 8 March when he went for his routine morning workout around the mountain at about 05:00.

Police and family members have since launched an extensive search, and trusted search and rescue dog, Zander, was called in recently to assist.

Zander has an excellent track record in detecting bodies. He recovered the body Michael van Eck, who was apparently lured to his death in a cemetery outside Welkom last year.

Zander has also been used to solve many missing persons’ cases in the Free State.

The spokesperson for the police, Sergeant Christopher Mophiring, said they believe that if Rasebokoa is still somewhere in the mountains, dead or alive, Zander and Phuthaditjhaba Mountain Unit will find him.

“Both teams are searching around the mountains in separate sections a day from morning until late. We have eight members with horses involved in this search and the well-trained police dog that has been rated the No.1 rescue dog in the country,” said Mophiring.

However, there are certain places in the mountain believed to be very difficult to access and this is where Zander comes in.

“We are leaving no stone unturned with the use of Zander.”

While the police search continues, Rasebokoa’s family members are also not folding their arms.

Earlier, Rasebokoa’s father, Motaung, organised a search team to traverse the top of the mountain in search of his son.

An exhausted Rasebokoa said he believes his son is still somewhere around the mountain and they will find him.

“My son will not rot in the mountain and I will not rest until I found him and brought him back home to his family. We have seen what happened to that constable (Francis Rasuge) whose body took eight years to be recovered and we do not want to see that happening with Pule.”

Rasebokoa was stationed at the Gariep Dam Police station since last year September.